robotics Articles

South Korea has become the first airport to largely automate many of the tasks usually performed by humans in an attempt to ease the coming travel increase brought on by the Winter Olympics. They have launched a set of LG robots that they hope will be a game changer in daily operations.

Anki, the makers behind little robot race cars that pit themselves against your phone, have a new project to show us. Cozmo is a little toy robot that might be the cutest thing ever invented in the history of the universe.

We have covered cute robots before. But Cozmo is something altogether different. This latest little marvel in A.I. shows the next step in the evolution of artificial intelligence.

Following the release of Pepper, the robot from tech company SoftBank, Hitachi Emiew3 is this week the newest robot arrival. Emiew3 is the latest competitor, and they claim it will be smaller, faster and more agile than its counterpart.

The rush towards robotic relevance is really heating up. Before an industry that was slow to make genuine progress, it seems like all at once we are making leaps and bounds with the tech. Pepper was proof of that incredible jump forward, and now Emiew3 is hoping to even further impress.

Uber has confirmed the acquisition of a number of leading robotics experts from Carnegie Mellon University to work at a research facility opening in Pittsburgh. But now Google is looking to become their competition.

There has been some controversy over Uber in the last few months. Several drivers working for the ride-on-demand service have been arrested for rape, and the company has been quick to state that they will begin greater measures to ensure the safety of their passengers.

Robotics have been making leaps and bounds, but their applications as an actual consumer product have been limited. Until now, thanks an IndieGoGo funded project called JIBO.

Created by Dr. Cynthia Breazeal of MIT, JIBO is being hailed as the first “family” robot. It is meant as more than an appliance, the crowdfunded project explains. It is a companion, meant to simulate realistic interaction and tailor itself to the personality of the humans around it.

Volume 9 of scientific journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics has been released, with the latest in experimental robots. These included flying drones that take their cue from birds, including those that can come together in a flock formation.

The research was conducted by fourteen different teams that each presented their findings, and the prototypes for the new robots. They were based on bats, bird, insects and flying snakes to create a more fluid and intuitive form of motion you would normally find in nature. One even simulated the flight pattern of a moth in the vortex of a tornado.

What is the point of the research? It is hoped that by developing robots that can fly within these conditions, they will be able to create drones that cope with the differing airflow and conditions of urban or populated environments.